Teaching of Economics Is on the Rise in Nation's Schools

Detroit--About 10 years ago, only a handful of students--primarily
college-bound seniors--received instruction in economics, and of those,
most were enrolled in special accelerated programs for the gifted.

But with inflation, high interest rates, and a troubled marketplace
making the headlines almost daily, that classroom situation is
drastically changing. The increased public awareness of the nation's
economic ailments has filtered into the schools, challenging
social-studies teachers to find new ways of convincing their students
that the "dismal science" is not so dismal after all. And according to
two recent studies, their efforts have been paying off.

Kindergartners playing musical chairs in Seattle, for example,
receive a lesson in the concept of scarcity at the same time. Young
viewers of the "Romper Room" television series are exposed to film
segments on such topics as capital resources and the division of labor.
And a computer game being developed at the University of Texas will
teach high-school students about the concepts of supply and demand,
profit and loss, and the function of the marketplace in the
free-enterprise system.

Educators discussed these and other techniques of introducing
economic theories to students during the annual meeting of the National
Council for the Social Studies held here late last month.

Understanding Economics

According to Anthony F. Suglia, a director of the Joint Council on
Economic Education, there is a tremendous interest in the area right
now because "people have come to realize how important it is to have a
basic understanding of economic principles.

"This is a complex world that demands that people have the tools of
economic analysis available to them," Mr. Suglia said. "Every student
in this country should be able to understand how the nation's economy
functions, and they should be able to use that information in the
decision-making process."

Two studies released this year indicate that economics is rapidly
approaching the status of a core-course offering in the nation's junior
and senior high schools.

The first study, conducted by Dennis C. Brennan of the University of
the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., found that 24 states have passed laws
or regulations requiring the teaching of economics in all high
schools.

The second, conducted for the Phillips Petroleum Company by the
Yankelovich, Skelly and White polling firm, reported that 48 percent of
the junior and senior high-school teachers questioned said that
economics is now a required course in their schools.

Economics Available as Elective

In another 39 percent of the schools, according to the survey,
economics is available as an elective to all students who wish to take
it, suggesting that 87 percent of the nation's junior and senior
high-school students may now have access to a course in the
subject.

The overall level of education among teachers of economics is also
much higher today than it was a decade ago, according to the survey. In
studies conducted in 1967, less than half of the social-studies
teachers surveyed had ever taken a college-level course in economics.
In contrast, more than 80 percent of today's social-studies teachers
have completed either college- or graduate-level courses in the
subject, according to the new survey.

Subject matter in economics courses ranges from so-called "survival
skills," such as checkbook balancing and comparison shopping, to
abstract theory. Practically all teachers responding to the Yankelovich
survey said that they brought current events into their lessons, with
the most common subjects being: inflation, the value of the dollar,
interest rates, recession, unemployment, government regulations,
business profits, and corporations.

Industry finances a substantial portion of curriculum development in
economics education, according to Mr. Suglia. In one sense, that
situation is fortunate, he said, because the programs are practically
immune from the effects of federal reductions in education
spending.

Disproportionately Favorable

On the other hand, he said, the industry funding causes some
teachers concern because they feel that the materials will be
disproportionately favorable toward business and industry.

"Typically, many of the teachers attend in-service training sessions
that we sponsor, not because they wanted to, but rather because they
were told to by their principal," Mr. Suglia said. "Quite a few of them
are wary when they arrive because they avoided economics during
college. But once the session begins, they start to realize that the
concepts that we're presenting aren't that difficult to master, nor do
they [the concepts] make any value statements about the economy."

Mr. Suglia said he is convinced that most students and teachers
misunderstand the point of view of business and industry regarding
economic matters because they limit their perceptions of the nation's
economy to a consumer viewpoint.

"I think it's important that we get people to see through the
producer's eyes if they are ever to understand fully how the economy
works,'' he said. "When a person is ignorant, he will formulate simple
answers to complex questions. But if a person is well-versed in
economics, and has the proper tools of analysis, he'll have a pretty
good idea of the true dimensions of the problem."

The question of balancing the views of industry against those of
opponents turned up in the Michigan House of Representatives recently
when members passed a bill encouraging the teaching of economics in
state high schools. The bill was passed only after liberal legislators
tacked amendments to it that toned down its praise of the
free-enterprise system.

Although almost half of the states in the nation have laws like
Michigan's that eithere or strongly recommend that students be
instructed in economics, the field's expansion could be stifled by
several factors, according to Mr. Brennan.

"The first, and probably most important, factor working against us
is general opposition from local school boards to state mandates of any
kind," he explained. "Also, surprisingly, there's been a lot of
opposition to state mandates from persons in other social-science
disciplines. They say, 'If you can mandate instruction in economics,
then why don't you require instruction in anthropology, psychology, or
geography as well?' State boards of education and state legislatures
will shy away from mandates of any sort rather than face that sort of
pressure."

Finally, he concluded, "The existence of a state mandate does not
guarantee that the state is monitoring the amount of money that is
being spent to fund economics-education programs. Just because a law
exists doesn't mean that it's being enforced to its fullest
extent."

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